Door jamb sealing strip



Aug 7, 1956 H. D. ER 2,757,422

DOOR JAMB SEALING STRIP Filed Dec. 1, 1953 JIE Z 32 2% 0 Z INVENTOR.

-28 115. 4 .A HQWARDIZFLICKEH BY )0 2 6f g ATTORNEY United States Patent DOBR JAMB SEALING STRIP Howard D. Flicker, Queens Village, N. Y., assignor to Jasco Aluminum Products Corp., New Hyde Park, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 1, 1953, Serial No. 395,360 13 Claims. (Cl. 20-69) The present invention relates to a sealing strip adapted to be used in door jambs and the like so as to sealingly engage a door when it is closed, and to the combination of such a sealing strip with a door jamb having a slot into which the sealing strip is adapted to be received.

The use of sealing strips of the general type under discussion has become fairly wide-spread, particularly with metal door jambs used in dwellings and the like, in order to produce an effective weather seal when the door is closed, and without having to manufacture the various structural elements to the close dimensional tolerances which would otherwise be necessary if the desired results were to be attained. The sealing strip and door jamb constructions known in the past have been subject to a number of drawbacks which have loomed large not only in the functioning of the arrangement, but also in the assembly thereof. From a functional point of View, the sealing strips, after they have been used over an appreciable period of time, tend to assume what may be termed a permanent set by reason of repeated closings of the door, and once that has occurred they will not thereafter engage the door when it is closed with the firmness required to provide an accurate weather seal. Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, they will not conform to variations in the position or shape of the door such as might be caused by temperature changes, distortion or loosening of the latch which holds the door in closed position, slight bending of the door due to the application thereto of excessive strains, and the like. Once this situation has come to pass, a weather seal will no longer be obtainable.

The approach to the solution of this problem in the past has been the use of sealing strips of increased massiveness and rigidity. This attempted solution of the problem has raised its own typical drawbacks. The more rigid the sealing strip, the more resistance it will offer to the closing of the door, and this is particularly disadvantageous for doors used in homes, where they must be manipulated by women and children, and where, when a door is thought to be fully closed and latched, it is most important from a safety point of view that that condition actually be attained. From the manufacturing point of view, as well, the use of strong stiif sealing strips is extremely disadvantageous, because the manufacturer is presented with the problem of securing those strips in place on the door jamb in a reliable manner. Assembly-wise, inserting the strip in a slot formed in the jamb is greatly preferred, but the problem of sliding or otherwise inserting a stiff rigid strip into a snugly fitting slot which may be eight or nine feet long is no mean task, requires careful and expert attention, and constitutes a bottleneck in assembly line operations.

My approach to the problem has been quite different, in order to minimize the resistance offered to movement of the door to fully closed position, I utilize as a sealing element a thin, comparatively weak, and highly flexible tongue which is secured to and extends out from a considerably more substantial base. The structure in which the sealing strip is mounted so cooperates with this tongue as to ensure that it will always be held in a position to engage and make sealing contact with the door as it closes. In effect the jam structure acts as a wedge lifting and holding the tongue in door-engaging position. Because of this lifting or wedging action, the Weakness and comparative fiimsiness of the tongue does not detract from its effective sealing action over a long period of time.

I mount the base of the sealing strip in a slot formed in the door jamb, the shape of the base and of the slot being so devised that the strip may readily be inserted into the slot and, when once inserted, is retained therein in a sufficiently reliable manner. More specifically, the base of the sealing strip is somewhat wider than the slot, so that when it is in place it will frictionally grip the inner surfaces of the slot with which it is in contact. This alone is not new. However, in order to facilitate the positioning of the sealing strip base within the slot, that base is provided with a recess along its length about which the base may be bent in order to decrease its effective width. The base, when thus bent, may then readily he slid lengthwise into the slot, the bulging of the base because of its being bent offering no resistance to the insertion of the base into the slot because the bulged portion extends out through the opening between the slot and the door-receiving face of the jamb. After a portion of the strip has been slid into the slot it may be released and it will then, because of its inherent resiliency, spread out and fill the slot laterally, but with a sufliciently weak force, by reason of the longitudinally recessed portion of the base, so as not to materially inhibit further longitudinal sliding of the strip within the slot as the remainder of the strip is inserted thereiuto.

The interengaging surfaces of the base and slot are so configured as to prevent the strip from being accidentally withdrawn through the opening from the slot to the door-receiving face of the jamb. In the form here specifically disclosed, it is preferred that one side of the base, and the corresponding side of the slot, define interengaging ledges which serve this function. It may also be desired, and the embodiment here specifically disclosed is so designed, that the other side of the base and the corresponding side of the slot have interengaging inclined surfaces which, under the action of the resilient tendency of the base to expand laterally, Wedge the base into proper position in the slot both inwardly and laterally.

To the accomplishment of the above, and to such other objects as may hereinafter appear, the present invention relates to the structure of a sealing strip and of the door jamb in connection with whi h it is used, as defined in the appended claims and as described in this specification, taken together with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a front elevational view of a door and jamb assembly embodying the present invention, the door being shown in partially open position;

Fig. 2 is a lateral cross sectional View of the sealing strip employed therein;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional View taken along the line 33 of Fig. l, with the door being shown in almost closed position; and

Fig. 4 is a view corresponding to Fig. 3 but showing the door in fully closed position.

As shown in l, a door generally designated 2 is hingedly mounted at 4 within a frame generally dcsignated 6 and comprising a sill 8, vertical jambs lit, and a top j-amb 12, all secured together in an appropriate manner. In the form here specifically disclosed the jarnbs 1i) and 12 are defined by metal strips having an outer wall 14, an inwardly extending wall 16, a

laterally extending wall 18 defining a door-receiving face, and an inwardly slotted portion generally designated 20 and having an opening 22 to the door receiving face. The slotted portion as here disclosed is defined by a bottom wall 24, as inclined wall 26 connecting one side of the wall 24 with the wall 13, and an outwardly extending wall 28 disposed substantially at right angles to the wall 24 and extending out to the door receiving face 18, there terminating in a laterally extending portion 30 the exposed edge of which defines one side of the open ing 22. The jambs, which may conveniently be formed of aluminum or other comparable metal to which the complex configuration may be imparted by extrusion, are mounted within a supporting structure generally designated 32.

The sealing strip employed with the door jambs as thus described is best shown in cross section in Fig. 2. It comprises a base 34 adapted to be received within the slot 20 and a flexible tongue 36 adapted to extend out of the slot 20 through the opening 22 beyond the door receiving face 18 so as to be engaged by the door 2 when the latter closes, thus producing a weather seal therearound. The sealing strip may be formed of any suitable flexible material having at least a minimal degree of resiilency. Rubber is one such material. Extruded strips of vinyl plastic material have also produced excellent results and are preferred from a commercial point of view.

The base 34 has a width slightly greater than the width of the slot 26, and is provided with a longitudinal recess 38 along substantially its entire length so as to define a central thin web portion 40 having thicker end portions 42 and 44 on either side thereof. The function of the recess 38 is to materially weaken the sealing strip along its length so that it can readily be bent about a longitudinal axis extending along the web 40, thus decreasing the overall width of the base 34 and permitting it to be slid along a slot 20 from the top to the bottom thereof without undue frictional resistance to such movement. Because the material of which the sealing strip is formed need not be, and, particularly when vinyl resin is employed, is not particularly rigid, excessive frictional resistance to the sliding of the base 34 along the slot 20 would present a very serious assembly problem. When the strip is bent lengthwise about the web 40, it will, of course, tend to bulge outwardly, but that bulge can free- 1y pass into the opening 22, with which the web 40 is preferably aligned, and hence no appreciable frictional resistance to the sliding of the strip along the slot 29 is produced from this cause.

The thickness of the web 49 serves two correlative functions. It permits the base 34 to be readily bent without the application of excessive pressure thereto, and it provides a restoring force to the base 34 when it is released which is comparatively weak, and which therefore will not press the side edges of the base 34 against the inner surfaces of the slot 22 so strongly as to impede the sliding of the strip along the slot 20.

The side edge 46 of the end portion 42 is substantially at right angles to the bottom surface of that end portion, thus corresponding to the orientation of the slot walls 24 and 23. The tongue 36 extends out from the base 34 so as to make an acute angle with the width there of, and is secured to the front surface of the end portion 32. If desired, a flat ledge 48 may be defined along the front surface of the base 34 between the side surface 46 thereof and the tongue 36. The side surface 50 of the end portion 44 is inclined corresponding to the inclination of the slot wall 26. The opening 22 is of appreciable depth with respect to the sealing strip, and particularly with respect to the tongue 36, the latter extending diagonally through and across the slot 22 from the right hand inner corner thereof adjacent the wall member 30 to the left hand outer corner thereof at the corner between the walls 18 and 26.

These structural arrangements and inter-relationships all play their part in the desired functioning and assemblability of the device here described. The inclined side surface 50 of the end portion 44 of the base 34, when the base 34 is released from the force which bent it longitudinally along the web 40, is pressed against the inner surface of the wall 26, which is substantially similarly inclined. This produces a wedging type of interaction which causes the base 34 to seat properly and accurately within the slot 20, both laterally of the slot 20 and also inwardly thereof. If desired, the same type of interaction could be provided at the other side of the base 34, but as here specifically disclosed, the ledge 48 at the extreme right hand end of the base end portion 42 is engaged by the wall portion 30 so as to define a some what more positively acting interlock between the sealing strip and the slot 20. This same arrangement could have been used on the left hand side of the base 34, dispensing with the inclined Wedge type of interengagernent there disclosed. It has been found that when the two types of interengagement are combined in the same sealing strip, as here specifically disclosed, the sealing strip base 34 is seated and retained within the slot 20 in an exceptionally reliable manner.

The tongue 36 is, as may readily be seen from Fig. 2, quite thin and flexible. However, it is supported in its operative position, ready to be engaged by the door 2 when the latter moves to closed position, by the corner between the jamb walls 13 and 26, that corner acting as a prop for the tongue 36 which is spaced both outwardly and laterally from the line of attachment between the tongue 36 and the base 34. Hence the tongue 36, despite its inherent flimsiness, is always ready to be engaged by the door 2 when the latter closes and to be bent by the door around the corner between the walls 18 and 26, as is clearly shown in Fig. 4. When the door is again opened, the inherent resiliency of the tongue 36, coupled with the supporting or wedging action of the corner between the walls 18 and 26, will cause the tongue 36 to once again resume its operative position shown in Fig. 3.

It will be apparent from the above that the sealing strip construction here disclosed is simple and is easily produced, is so designed as to facilitate its ready insertion into slots 20 of appreciable length, is so shaped, in cooperation with the shape of the slot 20 as to be reliably retained therein, has a sealing tongue 36 which, while it produces an effective weather seal with the door 2, exerts only a minimal resistance against closing movement of the door 2, and the structure of the door jamb so cooperates with the strip 36 as to facilitate and ensure its designed action.

In the door assembly here specifically disclosed sealing strips are provided only along the sides and top thereof, but are omitted from the sill 8, as is customary. As here disclosed the sealing strips are carried by the stationary jambs, but it is obvious that they could be carried by the door 2 itself if that were desired. While the invention has been here specifically disclosed in terms of doors, it will be understood that the term door is used in an exemplary sense only, and that the invention could be employed in conjunction with windows or other similar objects. While but a single embodiment of the present invention has been here specifically disclosed, it will be obvious that many variations may be made in the specific details thereof, without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a sealing strip for a door jamb or the like comprising an elongated base adapted to be received in a slot in the mounting structure therefore and a flexible tongue extending from said base and adapted to project out of said slot into the path of movement of a door so as to sealingly engage said door; the improvement which comprises said base comprising an elongated resilient body of substantial width and depth of a shape such as to substantially conform to said slot, said body being recessed along its length between and spaced from its lateral edges and adapted to be bent around said recess in order to fit into said slot.

2. In a sealing strip for a door jamb or the like comprising an elongated base adapted to be received in a slot in the mounting structure therefor and a flexible tongue extending from said base and adapted to project out of said slot into the path of movement of a door so as to sealingly engage said door; the improvement which comprises a comparatively thin and readily bendable web portion extending longitudinally of said base with thicker portions connected along the ends thereof, the outer surfaces of said thicker portions being shaped corresponding to the inner configuration of said slot.

3. In a sealing strip for a door jamb or the like comprising an elongated base adapted to be received in a slot in the mounting structure therefor and a flexible tongue extending from said base and adapted to project out of said slot into the path of movement of a door so as to sealingly engage said door; the improvement which comprises a comparatively thin and readily bendable web portion extending longitudinally of said base with thicker portions connected along the ends thereof, the outer surfaces of said thicker portions being shaped corresponding to the inner configuration of said slot, said tongue extending from one of said thicker end portions.

4. In combination, a door jamb or the like having a door-receiving face with a slot opening onto said face and extending longitudinally of said jamb, the body of said slot being wider than the opening thereof onto said face, and an elongated flexible sealing strip receivable in said slot along a substantial portion of its length, said strip comprising a base wider than and of substantially the same depth as said slot and comprising end portions with outer surfaces shaped similarly to the inner surfaces of said slot engaged thereby, a portion of said base between said end portions being recessed along its length, said base being adapted to be bent around said recess in order to fit into said slot, and a flexible tongue extending from said base out through said slot opening and into position to sealingly engage a door as it is closed.

5. In combination, a door jamb or the like having a door-receiving face with a slot opening onto said face and extending longitudinally of said jamb, the body of said slot being wider than the opening thereof onto said face, and an elongated flexible sealing strip receivable in said slot along a substantial portion of its length, said strip comprising a base wider than and of substantially the same depth as said slot and comprising end portions with outer surfaces shaped similarly to the inner surfaces of said slot engaged thereby, a portion of said base between said end portions being recessed along its length, said base being adapted to be bent around said recess in order to fit into said slot, and a flexible tongue extending from one of the end portions of said base out through said slot opening and into position to sealingly engage a door as it is closed.

6. The combination of claim 4, in which one inner side surface of said slot is inclined with respect to said door-receiving face, the opposed edge of said sealing strip base being correspondingly inclined.

7. The combination of claim 6, in which the other inner side surface of said slot is defined by an inwardly facing ledge to one side of said slot opening and a surface extending inwardly substantially at right angles thereto, the opposing surfaces of said sealing strip base being correspondingly shaped.

8. The combination of side surface of said slot is claim 4, in which one inner defined by an inwardly facing ledge to one side of said slot opening and a surface eX- tending inwardly substantially at right angles thereto, the opposing surfaces of said sealing strip base being correspondingly shaped.

9. In combination, a door jamb or the like having a door-receiving face with a slot opening onto said face and extending longitudinally of said jamb, the body of said slot being wider than the opening thereof onto said face, and an elongated flexible sealing strip receivable in said slot along a substantial portion of its length, said strip comprising a base wider than said slot, said base comprising a comparatively thin and readily bendable Web portion extending longitudinally thereof and having thicker portions connected along the ends thereof, said thicker portions being of substantially the same depth as the slot portions in which they are received and having outer surfaces shaped similarly to the inner surfaces of the slot engaged thereby, said base being adapted. to be bent along said web portion in order to fit into said slot, and a flexible tongue extending from said base out through said slot opening and into position to sealingly engage a door as it is closed.

10. In a combination, door-receiving face with extending longitudinally a door jamb or the like having a a slot opening onto said face and of said jamb, the body of said slot being wider than the opening thereof onto said face, and an elongated flexible sealing strip receivable in said slot along a substantial portion of its length, said strip comprising a base wider than said slot, said base comprising a comparatively thin and readily bendable web portion extending longitudinally thereof and having thicker portions connected along the ends thereof, said thicker portions being of substantially the same depth as the slot portions in which they are received and having outer surfaces shaped similarly to the inner surfaces of the slot engaged thereby, said base being adapted to be bent along said web portion in order to fit into said slot, and a flexible tongue extending from a thicker end portion of said base out through said slot opening and into position to sealingly engage a door as it is closed.

11. The combination of claim 9, in which one inner side surface of said slot is inclined with respect to said door-receiving face, the opposing surface of the corresponding thicker portion of said sealing strip base being correspondingly inclined.

12. The combination of claim 11, in which the other inner side surface of said slot is defined by an inwardly facing ledge to one side of said slot opening and a surface extending inwardly substantially at right angles thereto, the opposing surfaces of the thicker portion of said sealing strip base cooperating therewith being correspondingly shaped.

13. The combination of claim 9, in which one inner side surface of said slot is defined by an inwardly facing ledge to one side of said slot opening and a surface extending inwardly substantially at right angles thereto, the opposing surfaces of the thicker portion of said sealing strip base cooperating therewith being correspondingly inclined.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

